Star Wars Battlefront II Unlockable Heroes Controversy
Star Wars Battlefront II Unlockable Heroes Controversy is an event that was added to Know Your Meme on November 15, 2017 by Don. Know Your Meme Entry Overview Star Wars Battlefront II Unlockable Heroes Controversy refers to a massive online backlash to Electronic Arts’ decision to require players to grind for up to 40 hours in order to collect enough in-game currency to unlock certain heroes in the game Star Wars Battlefront II. Background On November 11th, Redditor TheHotterPotato submitted a spreadsheet revealing it would take 40 hours to unlock various heros in the upcoming game Star Wars Battlefront II. In response to the post, the official EACommunityTeam Reddit account replied that acquiring heroes through credits was intended to “provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment.” On November 12th, 2017, Redditor MBMMaverick submitted a post to /r/StarWarsBattlefrontReddit - It Takes 40 hours to Unlock a Hero Spreadsheet and Galactic Assault Statistics titled “Seriously? I paid 80$ to have Vader locked?”. Within 24 hours, the post gained over 69,100 points (88% upvoted) and 2,900 comments. In the comments section, the EACommunityTeam Reddit account responded to the complaint (shown below). Over the next day, the comment received a score of negative 394,000, becoming the most down-voted comment in Reddit history.Reddit - EA comment “The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes. As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we’re looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we’ll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay. We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets. Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.” Developments On November 13th, Redditor Unwanted_Commentary submitted a screenshot of the comment along with a faked followup post in which EACommunityTeam says “edit: We also now choose to live as gay men,” parodying Kevin Spacey’s response to a sexual assault allegation (shown below, left). Over the next 11 hours, the post garnered more than 31,100 points (92% upvoted) and 550 comments on /r/dankmemes.Reddit - EA Marketing Squad The same day, Redditor HitlerDabsOnJews posted a “Who Would Win?” image macro pitting Reddit against the EA logo labeled as “one greedy boi” (shown below, right).Reddit - Its in the Game Also on November 13th, Redditor TheMadPuma submitted a post titled “Can we please boycott Star Wars Battlefront 2” to /r/gaming,Reddit - Can we please boycott Star Wars Battlefront 2 where it gained upwards of 14,800 points (89% upvoted) and 1,400 comments in three hours. D4d.png|"EACommunityTeam: We also now choose to live as gay men." 656.jpg|One Greedy Boi On November 15th, Redditor MightyTeaRex submitted a photoshopped Electronic Arts logo with a lock added to the circle along with the slogan “EA Games / Go Fuck Yourself” (shown below, left). Within six hours, the post gathered more than 40,700 points (90% upvoted) and 660 comments on /r/pcmasterrace.Reddit - I fixed EAs logo a little bit That same day, Redditor xaliber_skyrim posted an infographic encouraging viewers to tweet complaints to the @Disney Twitter feed that the Star Wars game was “promoting #gambling to children” (shown below, right). Within 16 hours, the post gained over 105,900 points (75% upvoted) and 6,700 comments on /r/gaming.Reddit - Lets not forget a signifcant portion of EA Battlefront consumers 3df.png|EA Games / Go F*ck Yourself Cec.jpg|Join us by tweeting @disney with #gambling EA’s Response On November 13th, 2017, EAEA.com - A Message from John Wasilczyk, Executive Producer at DICE announced they would reduce the cost needed to unlock the “top heroes by 75%”, requiring 15,000 credits to unlock Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, and 10,000 credits for Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca and Leia Organa. That day, Twitter user @StevivorTwitter - @Stevivor tweeted that an EA representative confirmed that the reward for completing the campaign had been reduced from 20,000 to 5,000 credits “as a result of a reduction in in-game character unlock fees” (shown below). Cdb.jpg|@Stevivor's Tweet AMA Thread On November 15th, developers for the game participated in an “ask me anything” (AMA) thread on the /r/StarWarsBattlefrontReddit - Star Wars Battlefront II subreddit. In the thread, responses made by the developers were heavily downvoted and buried, leading moderators to linking their responses at the top of the comment section. In-Game Purchase Suspension On November 16th, Oskar Gababrielson, General Manager for DICE, made an announcementEA News - An Update On Star Wars Battlefront II regarding the temporary suspension of in-game currency. The official EA Star Wars TwitterTwitter - @EAStarWars and FacebookFacebook - EA Star Wars pages also published links to the announcement, where they received over 16,000 and 8,500 thousand likes respectively within the hour. Additionally, Redditor AbdaIIicA posted the announcement to /r/gamingReddit - Good job, gamers! where it reached the top of the front page and received over 45,000 upvotes within the first hour. b89.jpg|Bullsh*t, they're just going to turn in-game purchases back on. News Media Coverage On November 15th, 2017, CNBCCNBC - Wall Street is getting worried social media outrage over EA’s Star Wars game may hurt sales published an article titled “Wall Street is getting worried social media outrage over EA’s ‘Star Wars’ game may hurt sales,” quoting Wall Street analyst Justin Post who said “We see recent controversies as a potential risk for unit sales vs buyside expectations, although EA has conservative estimates for Battlefront Live Services.” The controversy was covered by many other news sites as well, including BBC,BBC - Star Wars Battlefront II game faces further backlash Polygon,Polygon - Why your Battlefront 2 outrage is a compliment to EA FortuneFortune - Star Wars Battlefront II controversy and Kotaku.Kotaku - Unlocking Heroes In Star Wars Battlefront II Could Take A Long Time Coverage resumed the following day after the suspension of in-game currency. Articles were posted by most major news agencies including Polygon,Polygon - Star Wars BF 2 Microtransactions Removed PC Gamer,PC Gamer - Star Wars Battlefront 2 microtransactions have been temporarily removed and Business Insider.Business Insider - Star Wars Battlefront 2 removes microtransactions Image Macros Bbe.png|Press F to Pay Respects for $19.99 8c5.jpg|Legolas and Gimli 527.jpg|When you pay full price for a game in 2017 Ece.jpg|EA announcing their latest microtransaction 2017 (colorized) 390.jpg|Public Trust: EA vs. Gas Station Sushi 5d0.jpg|EA charging money for a game External References Category:Events Category:Controversies Category:2017 Category:Reddit Category:Star Wars: Battlefront